As Florida Porsche dealers, we encourage you to contact us whenever you have a question about your car or one of the Porsche vehicles we have for sale or lease. Even when our dealership was called “Brumos Porsche,” we fielded a lot of calls from people looking for tips to get the most out of a test drive. Since we still get calls and emails about this topic, we thought it would be a good idea to put together a list of tips for test drives.

A test drive is your opportunity to experience how an automobile performs. If you’re going to test drive multiple vehicles, you should make it a point to drive them on the same day so you can accurately compare their performances. You should also ask a friend or relative to accompany you on your test drives for two reasons. First, your companion may notice something about a car that you missed. Your friend or relative can also talk with the salespeople who will join you for your test drives, allowing you to give your full attention to the cars you’ll drive.

Remember – just like people, cars have different personalities. So, take the time to test drive as many of them as is necessary to find the one that suits your personal tastes and driving preferences the best.

Here are some of the big things you should pay attention to during a test drive:

  • Comfort: Make sure every seat in the car is comfortable, including the seats in the back. Be sure you can get in and out of the vehicle’s seats without straining as well. As you’re driving, make note of how the automobile absorbs the shock of going over bumps in the road.
  • Acceleration: If you’re like most motorists, you drive on the highway at least occasionally. Make sure the vehicle you’re testing can accelerate quick enough to allow you to merge into fast-moving traffic safely.
  • Brakes: Test the automobile’s brakes to ensure you’ll be able to stop quickly when necessary. Make sure the brake pedal works in a smooth motion that doesn’t require too much force to stop the car.
  • Responsiveness: Keep an eye on how well the car responds to your steering and make sure it goes straight ahead when the wheel is in position without corrective action from you. Drive the vehicle on different kinds of road surfaces to see how it handles them.
  • Quietness: Everyone at our Porsche dealership near St. Augustine, FL recommends that you listen to see how quiet the ride is. Turn the radio off and put the windows up so you can experience the noise level in the car while you’re driving on the highway. While every car has some sort of background noise, the key is to determine whether you can tolerate the noise level in the particular model you’re test driving.

Now that you know what to look for when you take a test drive, why don’t you visit Porsche of Jacksonville to find a new Porsche car that you want to test drive? Visit our Florida Porsche dealership today.